Personal protective equipment for your stethoscope

From HCPro:

One inventive Massachusetts physician has come up with a way to protect patients from bacteria on the most common medical equipment found slung around the necks of doctors and nurses.

Previously, Richard Ma, a physician at Saints Medical Center in Lowell, MA, had been putting a latex glove over the end of his stethoscope before examining a patient with a communicable disease, according to an article in The Boston Globe.

But the glove muffled the sound and was awkward to handle, according to Ma, so he invented the Stethguard – a long plastic tube-like sheath that fits over the end of the stethoscope and provides protection against infectious organism and prevents HAIs.

Nonurgent patients in the emergency department? A French formula to prevent misuse

From BMC Health Services Research

Background

Overcrowding in emergency department (EDs) is partly due to the use of EDs by nonurgent patients. In France, the authorities responded to the problem by creating primary care units (PCUs): alternative structures located near hospitals. The aims of the study were to assess the willingness of nonurgent patients to be reoriented to a PCU and to collect the reasons that prompted them to accept or refuse.

Methods

We carried out a cross sectional survey on patients’ use of EDs. The study was conducted in a French hospital ED. Patients were interviewed about their use of health services, ED visits, referrals, activities of daily living, and insurance coverage status. Patients’ medical data were also collected.

Conclusions

Our study provides information on the willingness of ED patients to accept reorientation and shows the limits of its feasibility. Alternative structures such as PCUs near the ED seem to respond appropriately to the growing demands of nonurgent patients. Reorientation, however, will be successful only if the new structures adapt their opening hours to the needs of nonurgent patients and if their physicians can perform specific technical skills.